


There is a Light (that never goes out)

by Icka M Chif (mischif)



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bittersweet, Character Death, End of the World, Evil Wins, Evolution, Gen, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Loneliness, Murder, Suicidal Thoughts, Tearjerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischif/pseuds/Icka%20M%20Chif
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"-but today Bunny is the sole survivor. He is the Guardian of Life and Hope. He feels this huge responsibility because if he goes, then life ends on Earth as well.”</i> — Rise of the Guardians Art Director, Max Boas.</p><p>We killed Bunnymund. And then the World followed. Sorry about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There is a Light (that never goes out)

_“Our goal was to look at Bunny as the creator of life and to view his warren as the birthplace of spring. This realm was once inhabited by a large population of rabbits, but today Bunny is the sole survivor. He is the Guardian of Life and Hope. He feels this huge responsibility because if he goes, then life ends on Earth as well.”_

-Rise of the Guardians Art Director, Max Boas in the Rise of the Guardians Art Book. 

* * *

"I've grown tired of our little game." Pitch drawled as he walked in circles around Bunny, who was bound in shadowy tentacles. "So I've decided to end it." 

" _BUNNY!!!_ " Jack's voice echoed in the bubble he was stuck in. His ice had no effect on it and his staff was stuck in the clear walls, unable to move. The other Guardians were similarly trapped, trying to escape from the bubbles that had them stuck. Sandy's looked like a golden blurr, his dreamsand flying in fast little circles, trying to find an exit. 

"What are you _doing_ Pitch?" North demanded, giving the inside of his bubble a good, hard kick. "Release us!" 

Pitch pretended to think it over. "Mmm... How about 'no'?" He drawled, running one hand down the top of one of Bunny's bound arms, long fingers sliding through Bunny's fluffy fur as Bunny attempted to pull himself free. Jack snarled in response. Bunny hated getting petted without permission. 

"You see... One of us has been holding out." Pitch continued. "Covering more than one aspect. Dreams, Joy, Wonder, Memories, Fear... Hope. It all depends on one very important little thing." Pitch asked, draping himself over Bunny's shoulders. Bunny snarled back, baring his sharp teeth. A tendril around his muzzle kept Bunny from biting however. 

Pitch smiled, looking amused. " _Life_." He breathed, eyes glowing with maniacal glee. 

Jack shoulder checked the bubble, trying to get out, to get to Bunny. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see the other Guardians stop their struggles. 

"You don't want to do this." Tooth protested, her voice wavering. Jack glanced around. Do what?

"Oh, I think I really do." Pitch smiled, sliding off of Bunny, a shadow scythe appearing in his hand with a shark-like smile. Bunny's eyes went round as he increased his struggles. The other Guardians screamed as Pitched swung the scythe backwards. 

Bunny's grass green eyes locked with Jack's, Jack's chest locking up in his chest at the warm look in his friends eyes. "Where there's Hope, there's Life." Bunny said quietly, his voice slightly muffled. 

Behind him, Pitch started swinging. Bunny lifted his head, baring his neck as he shouted to the sky. "MANNY! RELEASE JACK FROM HIS-"

The rest of Bunny's words were cut off as Bunny's head fell off his shoulders, rolling on the ground until it came to a stop just in front of Jack, the glow fading from the bright green eyes, turning them dull and glassy. Jack's started hyperventilating, staring at the severed head of his best friend, his vision fading to white. 

In the background, he was vaguely aware of Pitch laughing as he spun around, continuing the swing and chopping Bunny diagonally from shoulder to hip, but it was a distant thing as Jack Frost _**lost his mind**_.

* * *

When Jack became aware again, he opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling of North's Workshop, his body cold and floating. 

"Wha-?" He croaked out, feeling cold. It was the kind of cold that seeped into the bones, and made everything feel numb. 

A kind of cold he hadn't felt since he'd become a Guardian. 

His eyes opened all the way and flailed as he realised that he couldn't feel the kids anymore. His believers, he couldn't sense them at all. 

"Easy." Large hands pushed him back into the slushy water that surrounded him. It was North, looking older than Jack had ever seen him before. 

"North?" He gasped, clutching the edges of what he realised was a tub. "What's going on? I can't feel anyone! What's happened to the children?" 

North gave him a sorrowful look. "I am sorry, Jack." He said quietly, sitting heavily in a chair next to the tub. "We lost." 

No no no no no.... "The children-?"

"Are still alive." Tooth said from the other side of the tub, her voice rough. Sandy floated next to her, a sorrowful look on his face. "For now."

There was a finality to her voice that made him nervous. "Why can't I feel them?!" Jack demanded. He'd been alone for so long, having the connection to other people had made him feel warm, kept him feeling warm, even if his heart didn’t beat. 

And now there was just the cold. 

"Let us start at the beginning." North said heavily. Tooth walk, not flew, walked over to North, flicking her tail feathers out before sitting on his leg, leaning against his chest. North rested a hand on the curve of her hip, balancing her there. "And the beginning... is Bunny."

Questions pressed against his lips and Jack locked his jaw to keep himself from asking them, and to _listen_. North gave him an approving look, wearily starting his tale.

"When Bunny found this planet, it was oval. Like egg. And hot, according to him. Eggs are lovely, but not well balanced, so he tunneled inside, and kicked and kicked until world was mostly round. Stable." This was all information Jack already knew, often teasing Bunny about his advanced age. "And he made his Warren, hiding the First Light of the Universe from Pitch." 

"But after that... As the planet cooled, I think Bunny became lonely." North said quietly. "Pooka.... Protected life and light. So he use his own energy to give the things starting to grow on this planet a... nudge. To create that spark of life."

"Thanks to that nudge, everything growing is connected to Bunny." Tooth gave Jack a small half smile. "I don't think he realised it until later, but as long as he was alive, life thrived here on Earth."

And now Bunny was dead. 

"The plants were the first thing to follow." Tooth explained as Sandy floated into his sight, images of plants wilting and fading above his head. One of North's arms wrapped around Tooth to keep her upright.

And without the plants, the things that ate the plants had nothing to eat. Insects, birds, rodents, herbivores. Without the creatures that ate the plants, the things that ate them had no food. Everything on Earth was interconnected, and now with the centre of that connection gone, everything was dying.

"Not just plants. It is like plague." North said heavily. "One by one, every living thing just... falls over. Young, old, weak, healthy, it matters not." 

"Why can't I feel that?" Jack demanded, panic forcing the words out. His believers, he could feel it when someone new started to believe, or someone stopped for one reason or another. He should be like the others, being drained because of the loss of children and their belief, not this all prevailing numbness. 

"Easter is New Hope, New Life." North put his large hand on top of Jack's. "You... Are Bunny's Easter. His symbol of new life, new Hope. He much happier since you came into our lives." 

Jack swallowed, his throat thick. North was the loving Grandfather he'd always wanted, Tooth and Sandy were his crazy Aunt and Uncle, but Bunny... Bunny was his Best Friend, his Brother. If he wasn't bring Joy and Snow to the world, he was generally found at Bunny's Warren, spending time herding eggs and teasing the surly Pooka. 

"His last words, he passed that Hope on to you." North said, his eyes tearing slightly. 

' _Manny, release Jack from his-_ '

"My Oath." Jack breathed, sitting straighter. "You got Manny to release me from my Oath. I'm no longer a Guardian-?" 

"You died when you became a Guardian." Tooth leaned forward, twining her fingers with North's over his hand. "Which severed your connection to all other living things. Without the Oath, you're not tied to the children either." 

He was free. But the other three still were connected. The children were dying, which meant that their belief was too. 

"What about you?" Jack pressed. "Can't Manny do the same-?"

"Becoming Guardians extended our life." North shook his head. "We never died." Which meant that Bunny's death would kill them too. 

"But... Manny? What if you went to the Moon?" Jack mentally flailed around, looking for a way to save his friends, his family. "You wouldn't be on Earth, that would be enough, right?" 

"No, Jack." North said gently. "Enough. It has been a good ride, but now it is ending." 

"But-"

"Hush." North placed his fingers over Jack's lips, silencing him. His eyes were kind, as if grateful that Jack was trying to save them. Jack glanced at the others. Tooth had a fond look on her face, and Sandy had a sleepy smile. 

Jack raised an eyebrow at Sandy. Sandy wasn't from Earth, he was an alien. Without the Oath, he wouldn't be tied to the planet either, he could survive too. 

Sandy just shook his head, as if following Jack's train of thought, then motioned to the ground. Sandy was staying. 

Jack stared at the three of them, wondering how they could be so _calm_ about this. 

Tooth slid off of North's lap, leaning forward and kissing his cheek as North moved his hand. "Love you, Jack." She whispered, tears in her eyes. "Thank you for everything." 

Sandy nodded, giving him a small smile and a bow, his hands pressed together. Jack automatically nodded back, his eyes flickering between between the three of them. What? 

"You are Hope now, Jack Frost." North said, reaching up and petting the top of Jack's head with warm gentle fingers. "And for that, you must _live_."

Without warning, Jack was suddenly pushed under the cold slushy water, North's hand keeping him submerged. Jack flailed and struggled, trying to break free, his limbs smacking his staff, which was resting on the bottom of the tub with him. Air became scarce, he didn't need to breathe, but he'd never lost the reflex to do so and panic set in. 

The freezing water shimmered with gold before the ice enveloped him.

* * *

It was bright, the next time he woke up. Blindingly bright. He groaned, shoving away the chuncks of ice that covered him until he was free. He paused for a moment, coughing and spitting out slivers of ice that were still stuck in his lungs, squinting as he looked out along the landscape. 

Ice. As flat and far as his eyes could see. Pure white blinding ice. 

Jack had no idea where he was. The sun was fairly low in the sky, so either it was sunrise, sunset, or he was near one of the poles. 

North Pole was more likely. 

North. 

He glanced around, spotting his staff still buried in the ice and pulled it free, ice cracking away. He felt kind of strange, not as buoyant as usual. Where were the others? 

"Wind!" He shouted, the Wind picking him up in a jubilant tumble, pushing him high up in the air, whispering its glee that he was alive, he was whole, it was so _boring_ now, no one would play with it. 

He soothed it as much as he could, running his fingers through the breeze, petting it. "I need to go to North's Workshop." He said urgently. "Take me to the North Pole, as fast as you can!"

Wind threw him through the air, the ground a blur below him. It was an exhilarating ride, but not nearly as much fun as it had been in the past. 

The towers of North's Workshop came into view, glass shining under the layers of snow. The Wind set him down right outside the front door, which he pounded on. "NORTH!" He shouted. "TOOTH! SANDY!" 

The Wind shifted nervously, the only sound. "-Dinkle?" Jack tried, his voice cracking. "Phil? Come on guys..." 

No response. Swallowing his fears, he tried the doorknob. It opened under his hand, the door sliding part way open before getting stuck. Glancing back at the frozen landscape, Jack stepped inside, his staff at the ready, to freeze anything that might jump out at him. 

It was silent inside the Workshop, the ground covered in a thick layer of dust and yeti hair. 

He stumbled over Phil first, finding the yeti slumped against a wall, spear in hand as if he were protecting the entranceway from any intruders. It was the fact that he didn't move when Jack face planted over his leg that clued him into the fact that something was wrong. 

Phil looked asleep, eyes closed, expression almost peaceful. His fur was dry to the touch though, breaking off in pieces against Jack's fingers, the flesh under the heavy layers of fur almost hollowed out, dehydrated in the low humidity of the arctic. 

“Don’t stir anything up too much.” Jack whispered to the Wind, backing away. His hair was ruffled in return, sedate for the Wind. 

He continued walking, spotting more yeti, most of them at their workstations, next to piles of toys that would never be played with, waiting for a Christmas that would never come. He found the elves tucked up in a pile together, cuddled together as if for warmth, one in the process of chewing on his friend’s foot. 

Jack made his way up to the Globe Room, where the giant globe was still slowly spinning, quiet and dark. There were no lights on it, not a single solitary one. 

All the children... all the believers... gone. 

Jack swallowed and continued, avoiding the elevators in exchange for leaping from railing to railing until he made it to North’s office. The door was slightly open, as if in invitation. Jack took a deep breath before he pushed open the door, the light streaming in through the windows momentarily blinding him. 

North was sitting at his table, papers scattered around it. He was slumped over, as if he’d just put his head down for a quick nap. 

And then never woken up. He was mummified the same way that Phil was, mostly looking normal... skin hanging slightly oddly, the muscles underneath shrunken from the lack of moisture. 

“Oh, North.” Jack caught himself on a sob, his eyes tearing up. He wiped at them inefficiently, his eyesight blurring. He sank down to the ground as the tears kept falling, trying to wipe them away and failing. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there, but the angle of the light changed by the time his tears dried up. The Wind slowly spun around him, its version of a hug. “Thanks.” He whispered. 

The Wind ruffled some of the papers laying around the room, blowing them towards him. He opened his mouth to scold the Wind, when he caught sight of the word on top of every page. 

‘ _Dear Jack,_ ’

Letters. He gathered them up, organising them by the dates on the top. There were only a small handful of them, starting the day Bunny died. The letters weren’t very long, mostly observations on what happened. 

‘ _-We buried Bunnymund in the main room of the Warren, with his his head facing east, to always greet the new day. The Sentinel Eggs gathered around-_ ’

‘ _-Jack looks so peaceful under the ice. I pray his dreams are pleasant-_ ’

‘ _-beloved Toothiana has left for Punjam Hy Loo. Her girls have started to fall, and she wishes to be there with them until the end-_ ’

‘ _-having decided to do what brings them the greatest amount of Joy, the Yeti continue to craft toys, acting as if nothing is wrong when one passes away. It both saddens and humbles my heart-_

‘ _-The oldest of the trees are were the last to linger on, but even they have finally succummed-_ ’

‘ _-Our Sandman does not sleep, endlessly crafting dreams and sending day and night to ease the last minutes of those who will never wake up-_ ’

‘ _-The animals, even my sweet reindeer, have all departed. Only a handful of humans remain-_ ’ 

‘ _All of the Elves were found this morning in a pile, having relinquished life during the night-_ ’

‘ _-Sandy stopped by today to deliver the news that my dearest Toothiana and her fairies are no more before returning to his crafting-_

‘ _-The last living human passed away in their sleep today._ ’

‘ _-faithful Darrall, he who was constantly re-painting toys the wrong colour, has taken his final breath. I am alone in the North Pole, the once joyous Workshop is now our tomb-_ ’

‘ _-my sincerest apologies, Jack, for we have done a selfish thing. Your living on is what enabled us to rest in peace, in hope that this is not the end, merely a new beginning. We did not care for you to suffer the pain of watching us fade away, no matter what you would have chosen.  
I can only wish that you will someday forgive us for that-_ ’

The words blurred in front of his eyes and Jack threw the letters away with a bitter laugh, tears dripping down his face anew. Hope? New Beginning?  
How?!

His family was gone. For the second time in his life. He was alone, and this time there was no one left alive, no one at all. 

He was completely, utterly, **alone**.

The Wind ruffled his hair, trying to sooth him. “Sorry.” He murmured, leaning into the touch. Not completely alone, it was just the two of them again. 

With no one around to prank. 

Jack glanced around. “How long was I asleep anyway?” He asked. The Workshop was nearly perfectly preserved, it was hard to tell how much time had gone by. 

Wind tugged on his sleeves, pulling him towards a corner of the room. There was a little clock there, still silently ticking away, showing not only the time but the date. 

-He’d slept for over a hundred years.

Not long for some people, Bunny measured... _had_ measured time in Billions of years, but Jack had yet to reach his first millennium. 

A hundred years. 

“What about the others?” Jack asked, glancing around. The Wind tugged on his clothing, pulling towards the window. The letters said that they’d returned to their homes. He needed to get there. “Right. Just a second.” He said, leaning his staff against the table. 

He turned back towards the doorway, finding North’s big red coat on it’s hook next to the door. He picked it up, carefully settling it across North’s shoulders, tucking it around him as if the Guardian of Wonder was merely sleeping. Jack opened his mouth to say something witty, then closed it again, his throat tightening up. 

It didn’t matter what he said, there’d be no response. 

Jack picked his staff back up and walked back the way he came, closing the door to North’s office behind him. He took a different route back, jumping off a rail and floating down to the entrance, passing by Phil on the way. 

He opened the front door, the sunlight blinding him again. Jack squinted, spotting a flash of blue next to the door, outer layers hanging on hooks, waiting for their owners to pick them up again. Jack grabbed the blue cloak North had made for him when he'd first moved into the Workshop, despite the fact that he didn't feel the cold the way the others did. It was slightly too big, always had been, but North had laughed and said he'd grow into it. 

He wrapped the material around him, feeling it fall over him like one of North's giant hugs before pulling the hood over his eyes, shading them so he could see. 

Thus protected, he stepped outside, closing the door to the Workshop behind him, making sure it was firmly shut to leave the inhabitants undisturbed. 

North was right. It was their tomb. The Workshop, once a place of wonder and creativity, was now a mausoleum. 

And not his home anymore. 

He turned his back to it. “Wind!” He called, raising his staff. “Take me to Tooth’s Palace!” 

The Wind obligingly picked him up, tossing him through the air, the Earth blurring by underneath him. Endless ice gave way to forest, the trees lying flat like so many matchsticks, collapsing in on each other, and leaving swaths of destruction. Some propped each other up like lonely sentinels, the sun and the wind bleaching them pale and grey, their branches reaching to the sky like skeletal fingers. 

Then came the remains of civilization. 

Buildings still stood, broken from wind and weather, bleached in the sunlight. The skyscrapers, built of metal and glass fared better than the suburbs, with their houses made of wood and plaster. He passed by airplanes crashed into the ground, highways full of crushed mangled cars where people had suddenly died, their transportation continuing on without them and taking other people and vehicles with them. 

Along the coasts, there wasn't even that, a century of hurricanes and coastal storms reclaiming the shoreline for the ocean. 

And then there were the deserts, giant great swaths of shifting sand where there had once been grasses. Tornados left great gouging paths of destruction through them, creating patterns like snail slime trails from high above. 

No signs of life, not anywhere. 

It was eerily quiet when he arrived at Punjam Hy Loo, Tooth Palace. Even the Wind's whistling seemed muted as he glided between the remains of the towers. Only one or two were still standing, not including the main tower. 

Jack landed on the top of the main tower with a feeling of dread, both hoping and fearing what he would find. At first glance, the platform seemed empty, not even feathers left. He spotted something in the centre and stepped forward, then leapt back when something tiny and sharp bit into his foot. "Ow, ow ow ow..." He hopped, twisting his foot around so he could see what he'd stepped on. 

It was a tiny pale sliver of a thing and he carefully pulled it out of his skin, peering closely at it. 

It was a tooth. An itty bitty tiny tooth, hardly bigger than a large piece of sand. 

Heart pounding hard in his chest, he looked around, realising that there were little tiny grey piles evenly spaced close together all around the main platform. He crouched down to all fours, peering at the ones closest to him. 

Tiny piles of skulls and teeth. Fragments of bones. 

The Fairies. It was all that was left of Tooth's Fairies, not even skin or feathers remaining. They'd all gathered together here, to be with each other until the end. 

He looked to the centre, where there was a larger pile. With a hop, he jumped over the remains of the tiny Fairies, landing in the middle. There was most of a skull there, tilted as if asleep, some vertebrae, and part of the pelvic and femur bones still left.

And the teeth, gleaming white. The rest was dust, lost to the elements. 

"Oh, Tooth." Jack murmured, running his fingers along the top of her skull. It tilted, turning to the side, one of the upper bicuspids falling out, landing in front of him. 

Jack stared at it for a moment, then reached down and picked it up, holding it up. It gleamed white in the sunlight, like newly fallen snow. He swallowed, then set his staff against his shoulder, reaching down and undid the leather cord wrapped around his left trouser leg. He wrapped the cord around the tooth, knotting it securely so it wouldn't fall out, then tied it around his neck, tucking it safely under his shirt.

The tooth rested just below his collar bones and Jack touched it through the cloth. He'd never worn a necklace before and it felt slightly strange, but comforting to have a part of Toothiana with him. 

"Goodbye, Tooth." He whispered, standing up. The empty socket eyes stared back at him, somehow giving the impression of a fond smile. He turned and leapt to the edge of the main platform, leaping to the top of one of the still-standing towers. 

A sparkle caught his eye and he jumped down, finding the archives on the lower levels. Millions of golden memory boxes, going back over a thousand years, preserved in the walls of Punjam Hy Loo. 

If one was able to open them. Jack touched the tooth resting against his skin. Maybe.... 

He turned away, facing the sun. "Wind!" He called. "Take me to Sandy's Island!" 

The Wind came, curious and howling, picking him up and tossing him high in the air. He soared over stark blue oceans and sandbars, seeing no life stirring under the massive blue depths. 

Sandy's Island was nearly indistinguishable from the sandbars they'd passed, the once glowing swirling turrents flattened out and almost completely featureless. The Wind set Jack down on the top of highest pile, bits of beige sand drifting around them. 

"Sandy?!" Jack called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Sanderson Mansno _oooozie!_ " 

The Wind died down, as if listening for a response as well. Out of all the Guardians, Sandy was the one he had the most hope of finding still alive. 

There was nothing, save the gentle lapping of the waves. "Sandy?" He tried again, looking around. "Wind? Can you see Sandy?"

Wind liked the Sandman, often times carrying him aloft at night, drifting him across the night skies. There was a small flurry, like a dust devil around him, then the Wind spiralled around the curved island, searching all over it. A minute later, Jack felt the Wind tugging on his clothing and he went where it directed. 

Nestled in a hollow was the curving outline of someone curled in the sand, like an egg. "Sandy?" Jack said, landing and going to his knees next to the figure. With a trembling hand, he touched the top of the curve, where Sandy's shoulder would be. 

The sand crumbled and collapsed at his touch, like a sandcastle to the incoming tide. Jack stared at it, unable to get anything past a strangled whimper past his throat. 

And he didn't know how to get into the Warren. It'd never been an issue before. They really were gone. All gone. It was just him, alone. 

The Wind rustled around him, ruffling his cloak but he paid it no mind, trapped in his sorrow. The sun faded over the horizon, painting the island in yellows and golds, a pale mockery of the vivid colour it had been. 

Then, there was darkness, save for the silver glitter of the stars above. A faint glow caught his eye, buried in the sand where it crumbled, looking like molten gold. "Wind?" He tentatively called, reaching for the simmering sand. 

The Wind followed his fingers, blowing the dull sand away from the glowing, uncovering a lump of still active dreamsand, a little larger than size of Jack's fist. Jack let out a small huff, then a broken laugh as he grabbed the hem of the cloak, tearing away part of the lining and setting it down next to the glowing sand. With careful fingers, he scooped up the dreamsand, putting it on the fabric. The Wind helped, twirling in a mini-dervish, separating the glowing from the not and gathering it all up in the fabric. 

When they'd collected every last grain of glowing sand, Jack undid the leather cord from his other leg and gathered the fabric up, tying the cord around it, turning it into a rough bag. He tied the bag to his waist, a comforting weight at his hip. 

Bunny's hope, North's cloak, Toothiana's tooth, and Sandy's dreamsand. This was all he had left of his friends, other than his memories. 

Jack settled back against the sand, staring up at the sparkling stars in the sky. It seemed like his life was constantly being defined by death. His own, and others. He felt exhausted, drained. 

The sky lightened as the Moon slowly began to rise, not yet full. Jack turned his face to it, basking in the faint light. "Hi, Manny." 

The Moon seemed to brighten, then flicker excitedly, as if Manny had spotted him and was trying to communicate. 

"... I can't understand you." He said softly with a small shake of his head. Jack had never been able to make sense of the moon's flickering, like the others could. The only time he'd been able to hear the Man in the Moon was when he'd woken up from the ice, being told what his name was. 

The Moon flickered a few more times, then the glow slowly faded to the usual constant haze. 

"Sorry." Jack murmured, watching the Moon rise. He'd slept through everything, but Manny was trapped up on the Moon, unable to do anything but watch as the world died below him. He wondered if Manny felt as helpless as he did now. 

He watched the Moon rise until he fell asleep.

* * *

At first, Jack walked. 

He was used to the Wind carrying him along, flinging him joyously through the air, but Jack didn't feel joyful. He felt numb, hollow. Like his insides had been scooped out and filled with something both too large and too small for his body to contain. He walked until he couldn't, then fell into oblivion until he woke up and started walking again. 

The days dragged on. The only thing he had to mark the passage of time was the phases of the Moon, but he had no way of telling how many had passed between his sleeping and waking. 

The Wind was his constant companion, tugging on his clothing, ruffling his hair, trying to entice him to play with it. Sometimes he'd agree, letting the Wind carry him away to somewhere new. Sometimes he'd talk to it, the words rumbling out of him in an uncontrolled rush, as if he'd forget how to talk if he stopped. 

Often though, he didn't have the energy, his lips and tongue forgetting how to form words. 

It was during one of these periods that Pitch found him. 

The Lord of Fear was greatly diminished, resembling nothing more than a tattered grey skeleton. Both his clothing and hair were in disarray, covered in dust and dirt, no longer the pure black they had been. 

"Frost!" Pitch stared at him for a moment, as if he thought he was hallucinating. Then Pitch stumbled forward, grabbing Jack by the shoulders in a crushing grip and shaking him, the hood falling off of Jack's head. 

Jack wondered if Pitch was going to kill him too, a brief flicker of hope forming at that. If he was dead, he wouldn't be alone. Perhaps he could join the other Guardians in the afterlife. He could see Bunny and Baby Tooth again. His Sister and Mother too. 

" _Feed me your **Fear**_." Pitch snarled, lifting Jack off the ground, baring his sharp teeth in Jack's face. 

Jack stared back at him, wondering how long it would take. Short? Fast? It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

Could he die? He'd already died once before. And been frozen in ice. 

He could try throwing himself in a volcano. Maybe that would work. That would mean having to find a volcano though. 

Pitch's expression slowly shifted, his golden eyes going round. "You... Have no fear..." He whispered, almost horrified. His fingers released their grip on Jack's shoulders, dropping Jack back onto his feet. Pitch staggered backwards, hands up in a warding gesture, as if he were afraid of Jack. Then Pitch's legs buckled under him, the once fearsome General falling to his knees. 

"There's not another living thing left on the planet." Pitch whispered, staring at Jack with a hopeless expression. "You have no fear, there is nothing left to sustain me." 

Jack said nothing. He had no words on his tongue, no emotions to offer. 

Pitch seemed to dissolve, bits of shadows breaking off and disappearing into the air. The Wind stirred around Jack as Pitch faded, breaking up and disappearing until all that was left of him was a smudge on the ground. Then not even that. 

Jack stared at where Pitch had been for a good long while, then started walking again.

* * *

Anger eventually replaced the numbness. 

How dare they? **How Dare they?!** How could the other Guardians leave him alone like this?! How dare they die and leave him behind with _nothing_ , an empty barren world, devoid of everything. No laughter, no joy, no light, no **life**. 

The Wind howled with his rage, bringing destruction with it. Blizzards raged, Jack bringing the cold from both poles down, covering the land with thick layers of ice that plowed and crumpled anything in their paths. He went to the deserts, his cold combining with the hot air and forming tornados, epic storms that picked up and flattened everything in their paths. 

Sandstorms buried towns, cities, landmasses, the Wind feeding off his pain and unleashing it onto the world in massive destructive forces. The Wind whipped the waves into frenzies, tidal waves taking the islands and coasts, flattening and carting off the rubble of previous civilisations. 

Volcanoes erupted, the Wind keeping Jack far enough away that he couldn’t do something in his anger, but they carried the smoke and the ash far and wide, coating sand and ice with a layer of grey ash, only to blow it away later. 

No corner of the planet was left untouched, from the Sahara to the Sierra Vistas, everything was ravaged. 

When his anger faded decades or centuries later, he looked around at the broken remains of what had once been thriving civilization, sat down and didn't move for awhile, no matter how hard the Wind tugged at him.

* * *

The Earth continued to turn, the Sun continued to rise, and the Moon watched over all. 

Jack resumed wandering, sometimes floating on the wind, sometimes walking. The planet was colder now, ice covering his cloak with icicles, his breath freezing into what looked like a long white beard down the front. 

When the loneliness got too much, he slept, North's cloak wrapped around him, one hand around Tooth's pendant, a few precious grains of Sandy's dreamsand in his eyes to bring him good dreams and memories. He began to fear a little, that he would forget them, forget everyone, and the dreams helped. 

When he mentioned this to the Wind, it carried him to the remains of Punjam Hy Loo, where the last of Tooth and her Fairies had vanished, the towers crumbling and falling. He’d walked around, finding the golden memory boxes, still shiny and glowing in the sunlight. 

He wandered into the darker, deeper caves, the parts he’d never seen before, a temple holding the remains of a winged elephant. Carvings on the wall told a story of a slave jumping infront of the arrow of a maharaja, saving the elephant and a flock of women with wings. The slave was injured by the arrow, then healed by one of the women, whom he married and had a daughter with. 

It was Tooth’s story, the story of how Toothiana came into being. 

In the back, there was an altar with three memory boxes resting on top. Jack would have ignored them, except that one of them had his face. 

It was his teeth, his memories. Tooth had said she kept them in a safe place. 

The other boxes were of a tanned girl who looked like a younger version of Tooth, and a wild looking boy with a fierce grin. It took a moment for Jack to realise it was North, but the large blue eyes were unmistakable. 

He took his box, touching the top, watching as the tiles spun, emerging him into his almost forgotten memories, of himself when he’d been alive. His sister, his mother, his small town. The pond, he’d always had a connection to the pond. Skating in the Winter had been the best, but swimming in the Summer to keep cool wasn’t bad either. 

It felt like a small lifetime had passed by the time he pulled himself out of his memories, frozen tear tracks running down his face. He wiped them away and reached for the next box, his fingers wrapping around Tooth’s. He touched the tooth to the top of her box, the tiles shifting, plunging him into her memories. 

She’d grown up as a normal human on the outskirts of a nearby village, loved by her parents, playing with the local children, full of smiles and laughter. He knew that she hadn’t sprouted feathers and wings until later, after she’d lost her teeth. 

North hadn’t had much of a childhood at all, raising himself in the wild, killing to eat while avoiding being eaten himself. Whatever had happened later to turn him into the Swordsman that his mentor Ombric trained as a Magician happened after his lost his teeth. 

Jack loved the old man, but he’d been unable to completely forgive North for being the one to hold him under the water until Jack froze it solid in his panic. It was his last memory of the toymaker, one that left him with a choked feeling in the back of his throat, for cursing him to live without the others, without the children, instead of letting him die with them. 

There were no boxes for Bunny or Sandy. Bunny’s teeth had constantly grown, the Pooka had a habit of gnawing on twigs and branches when he thought no one was looking to keep his teeth ground down, and Jack wasn’t sure if Sandy could even lose teeth. 

He didn't feel quite as hollow afterwards, when he started wandering again. While he’d never be quite as full of fun and joy as he had before, it felt like there was a tiny tentative thing tucked inside of him at his centre, like a small seedling waiting to sprout. 

It brought him comfort when he ventured too close to volcanoes. 

Time moved on.

* * *

He was in what had been the damp Pacific Northwest when he first saw it. The wood of the former forests was nearly completely gone, bleached in the sun, sanded smooth by the wind. 

And then there was a spot of blue-green, mixed in with the cream. 

Hope fluttered in his chest as he hopped towards it, crouching down to examine the spots, catching a faint putrid odour as he did so. A laugh bubbled up inside as he felt the slimy edges. 

Mould. 

There was mould on the tree trunk. It was rotting, bacteria was eating it. 

Life. 

Tiny life, but it was life, it was a living entity other than himself. 

Jack stretched his arms out, silently calling for the Wind, which picked him up and carted him away, over the lands and oceans, looking for other signs. 

He found it near Fiji, a discolouration in the water that wasn’t dirt. It was green-blue, a bloom of bacteria against the darker turquoise of the water. 

Life! 

He did a dance in the air, the Wind sending him spinning. Hope and Joy bubbling around inside of him. _Life!!!_

But how? Why? 

Bunny’s Warren was supposed to be the Birthplace of Spring and New Life. But he had no way of getting to it, it was deep underground, with the tunnels sealed shut when not in use. 

The Wind tugged on his cloak, pulling him away, back towards the Arctic and he went, the ground a blur under him until everything faded to white.

Phil was still there when he opened the door to the Workshop, looking a little bit more grey and dusty than he had before. Jack crept past him, keeping his cloak and staff tucked tightly around him, afraid of damaging anything. The Workshop creaked around him, the structure starting to feel its age and neglect. 

North still looked like he was sleeping, his large red coat covered in a coat of dust. The Wind rustled around him, stirring up the papers on the desk, knocking one off the floor. Jack glared, leaning down to pick it up. 

‘ _-for we have done a selfish thing. Your living on is what enabled us to rest in peace, in hope that this is not the end, merely a new beginning. We did not care for you to suffer the pain of watching us fade away, no matter what you would have chosen._

_I can only wish that you will someday forgive us for that._

_My everlasting love to you Jack Frost, my child of my heart._

_Sincerely,_

 _Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus)_ ’

It was the last letter, the one that had left him furious and annoyed the last time he left here. Jack rubbed his eyes, tears blurring his vision. 

Damn North, not letting him keep a grudge. 

The Wind tugged at his cloak, and he turned to see what had caught the its attention. He spotted the clock that had told him how much time had passed previously and stopped to gape at it. 

Several thousand years. 

The first digit of the year had moved several times. Jack stared at it, a strange feeling twisting in his guts. 

He’d been alone for longer than he’d been Chosen. Much, much longer. 

With a hitch in his breath, he turned away, spotting what the Wind was trying to point out to him. There, on the corner of North’s table, was a Snowglobe. A special one, with the destination already set to the Warren. 

North had planned ahead, knowing Jack would need to get into the Warren somehow. Jack just hadn’t been ready to see it the last time he'd been here

He gingerly picked the globe up, afraid that it would crack under the age of years, but it held solid, his fingers leaving little shiny dust-free streaks behind. He swallowed, giving North one last long look before motioning for the Wind to leave, slipping out of the Workshop. 

The Wind picked him up, practically prancing as they moved away from the Workshop. They flew until the Workshop was out of sight before Jack landed, staring at the Snowglobe in wonder. Bunny’s Warren. He’d had a way in all along. A chance to go to visit his friend’s resting place. 

Jack hesitated for a moment, worry that the magic was too old and faded mixing with hopeful optimism before tossing the globe down onto the ground. Immediately, a bright flash of light filled the air, a multi-hued tunnel opening up. Jack glanced up to give the Wind a grin before jumping into it, being carried away by the tug of magic. 

The Warren was dim, the magic that had kept the underground tunnels illuminated having faded or disappeared altogether. The Wind streaked past Jack, exploring the nearly forgotten rooms as Jack followed, taking his time as he walked, noting the faded dead flowers and the unmoving Sentinel Eggs. 

North had written that they had buried Bunny in the Main Room, the giant hall with huge tunnels that went to each of the seven continents. Jack still knew the way, even in the dark and after millennia away. 

He paused at the top of the hill that overlooked the main room, remembering the first time he and Bunny had bonded there, Bunny holding a sleeping Sophie, looking nostalgic and awed all at the same time at the child in his arms. 

There was a faint green glow in the middle of the room, presumably where Bunny was. A shadow like a cloaked person moved in the light, putting Jack immediately on guard. Staff up and ready to blast, he crept down the side of the hill, hiding behind Sentinel Eggs and rocks as he made his way. 

As he approached, he could see the Sentinel Eggs standing guard around small mound, Bunny’s grave. Something that looked like the shadow of an arm moved, putting Jack on edge as an unfamiliar female voice spoke. 

“Please, have a seat.” 

Jack froze, taken back at hearing a voice other than his own. He crept forward, closer to the light. The woman gave a low chuckle, pale hands pushing back the hood that hid the figure’s face. The woman looked regal, her long face both old and young at the same time. “I mean you no harm.” She said with a sincere smile. “I’m Mother Nature.”

He’d heard of her. Pitch’s Daughter, from before he became Pitch. She tended to stick to herself, benevolent and not by turns.

Jack opened his mouth to speak, making a soft croaking sound, his throat unwilling to cooperate after so long a silence. He wasn’t sure what to say to her anyway. ‘I’m sorry my depression killed your father?’

He walked closer instead, finally getting his throat to loosen up to talk. “Jack Frost.” He whispered, voice creaking from disuse.

Her dark gaze flickered over him. “More like ‘Father Frost’.” She murmured, turning her eyes towards the mound. 

The mound covered with large green glowing mushrooms, the tops of which were easily as big as his head. More life. He stared at it in surprise, fingertips itching to touch, but refrained in case he froze the new life. “You did this?” He questioned, crouching down across the mound from her, looking at the mushrooms in awe. 

“Where there is Hope, there is Life.” Mother Nature gave him a small sad smile. “Playing with Algae and Fungi now. Then will work up to plants and animals.” 

“You jump-started it.” Jack mused, pulling off his hood to get a better look at the glowing fungi. Like North said Bunny had all those years ago. He vaguely remembered something from lurking outside of school windows about evolution supposed to take Millions of years, not Thousands. 

But if anyone could speed the process along, it was Mother Nature. 

Bringing life back to the planet wouldn’t bring his friends and family back, nothing would, but to be able to hang around children again, the chance to make new friends... That was something to look forward to. Something to Hope for.

“Yes...” She gave him a surprised look. “... You look younger than I expected.” 

Jack glanced down at his ice-covered cloak, with the trail of icicles running down the front like a giant white bushy beard. He shrugged. “Former Guardian of Fun.”

“Oh.” Mother Nature tilted her head to the side as she studied him for a moment. “... What is your opinion on giant sentient rabbits?” She asked, a faint smile luring on the corners of her lips.

For the first time in thousands of years, Jack Frost grinned. 

-fin-

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, yes. We're a horrible evil person. But this fic is why we laughed in chat whenever someone commented about how sad '[Ask me Tomorrow](http://archiveofourown.org/works/678146)' is, because we'd already started writing this fic before posting that. Muwahaha.
> 
> -And this was fun as a mental exercise, as a giant 'What If-' after we read the comment by Max Boas. Title from the Smiths / Morrissey [song of the same name](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYH6sPjgLEs).
> 
> Notes from the TV mini-series [Aftermath: Population Zero](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath:_Population_Zero) was helpful, as was bugging my Engineer brother, who gave me a funny look when I explained the idea of killing all life in the world and responded with a surly "Well, that would work. Right up until the next Avatar gets annoyed and starts the whole process of life again." 
> 
> What Jack is calling ‘mould’ is Cyanobacteria. Most Bio-luminescent is usually blue or green, we went with Green because it's Bunny's colour, and his grave the 'shrooms are on. And we prolly got some of the science and evolutionary theory wrong, was a bit out of my depth on the research here. 
> 
> As always, error corrections are welcome.


End file.
